150/365 Christmas List: Heart Rate Monitor

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Heart rate monitors are a great way of tracking your fitness level and setting goals during your work out.

Your heart rate is stated as beats per minute (BPM). This is the number of times your heart pumps in one minute. Every beat sends newly oxygenated blood all over your body. We want this number to be between 60-100 BPM at rest. The best way to check this is by counting your heart rate as soon as you wake up but after you get over the shock of waking up. Your resting heart rate is indicative of how efficient and strong your heart is. If you are an active and healthy adult, your heart rate could be below 60: kudos! You are quite healthy. The more exercise you do, the lower your resting heart rate and blood pressure should drop until it plateaus. These are great indicators of whether you will develop a cardiovascular disease. If you are an inactive adult, a heart rate below 60 is called bradycardia and could cause fainting or sudden cardiac arrest.

Okay, so that was the basics. Why should you ask for a heart rate monitor? Well, your heart rate in short tells you how hard you are working when you exercise. Depending on your intensity, your body will utilize different methods for providing you energy. When you work at a high intensity (and heart rate), you burn more carbohydrates. When you work at a lower intensity (and heart rate), you burn more fat. Heart rate corresponds with intensity.

To find what intensity you should be working at, complete this equation (yay math):
220 - age = estimated Max Heart Rate
MHR (55%-65%) = Target Heart Rate to burn fat; fitness level
MHR (65%-90%) = Target Heart Rate to burn carbohydrates; performance level

Certainly, if your heart rate goes above the target for burning fat, that's okay. You'll just be burning more of a mix of fuels. To get a more accurate max heart rate to go by, you'll have to find a gym so you can perform a sub-max or max test.

A heart rate monitor can be a relatively inexpensive way to measure your fitness level and track your progress in your fitness endeavors. It is also a way to train your body to utilize carbohydrates, fat, or both.

In health,

Lauren